The Sea, The Hosts, and The Winchesters!
by RoseWillow13
Summary: Haruhi's not the type of girl to scare easily, especially with ghosts. At least, that's what she thinks. When the twins' little field trip to that haunted cave in Okinawa disturbs an angry spirit, who will protect her from its destructive wrath? Based off the OHSHC episode "The Sun, The Sea, and The Host Club!".
1. Chapter 1

"This is the place. It's the most haunted spot in all of Okinawa." Hikaru spoke in almost a whisper, and the two girls he'd led down into the cave hung onto his every word. "The locals don't even come out here."

Kaoru quickly took up his lines, also speaking in a hushed tone. "They say that the only time you can even find this cave is at low tide." He'd done his share of research, wanting it to be accurate, in case Haruhi or one of the girls had any knowledge of Okinawa's lore. "Evidently, many people have died down here from drowning." The girls were already clinging to each other, whimpering and shaking. Kaoru struggled to hold back his smirk and continued, letting his voice flow creepily. "And their souls still linger, taking revenge on anyone who happens to come inside an-"

He was cut off by his brother, who pointed at one of the stalagmites in the cave. "Look!"

Between the two thick rock formations, there appeared what looked like a ghost, waving its arms and laughing menacingly. The girls screamed and clung to each other tighter, wanting to hide their faces but unable to pull their gaze away from the thing.

Haruhi stood off to the side. She didn't look bored, just completely un-phased by the whole scene unfolding before her. She didn't notice the monstrous hand reaching for her from behind until it was firmly planted on her shoulder. The girls, who had finally managed to turn away from the creature they'd seen, screamed again. Haruhi took a slow glance at the hand before opening her mouth...

"What's going on? Are you trying to freak me out?"

The un-phased look had never once fallen from her face. The devious one on Hikaru's, though, was not as steady. He looked more than a little nervous, and guilty, at having been caught in the act.

Kaoru sighed, holding up the puppet that had initially scared the girls. "What's wrong with you? I thought everyone was afraid of ghosts." His and his brothers' faces had shifted to a pout.

Haruhi didn't seem to understand why that would be true. "But I've never seen a real one!"

The twins shook their heads and each wrapped an arm around one of the girls, guiding their still-shaken forms out of the cave with Haruhi trailing innocently behind. Since the lot of them were in their swimsuits, they took no notice to the rush of icy cold air that hit them as they reached the opening. Nor did they see the grayish figure flicker just inside the mouth, and then disappear.


	2. Chapter 2

"Dean... Remind me again why we're in Japan."

Sam shook his head, mildly disgusted as his older brother shamelessly devoured another serving of dango. Not that Sam had anything against the treat - it was surprisingly tasty. Just, watching Dean scarf food down like a pig was something he would never get used to, not even after all this time.

"Because," Dean said, not completely before swallowing, "I said we were takin' a vacation, and that's exactly what we're doin'." His sentence was not yet finished by the time he'd begun stuffing his mouth again.

"Well, yeah, I can understand that...but why did it have to be out of the States? We aren't exactly faces easily looked past, and it was a huge hassle getting these fake passports made. It just doesn't seem worth it."

But Dean was no longer listening. He had flagged down a waiter in an attempt to ask for the direction to the bathroom, and in broken Japanese had ended up making an apparently rude comment about the waiter's mother by mistake. The brothers quickly made their way out of the restaurant before any trouble started.

* * *

Thanks to their_ resources_, Sam and Dean had been able to afford a couple of rooms in a sea lodge owned by some big-name family. Sam had to admit, it was nice to be out of the States and away from the trouble that had been following them around lately. And the view from their rooms (their _adjoined, __**not shared**_ rooms) was pretty wicked.

Dean was asleep on the couch, his Japanese-to-English dictionary resting on his face. They'd been in Okinawa for about a week now, and their Japanese was getting a lot better. Sam was able to read without turning to Google Translate every few seconds, and had ended up finding some articles about the local lore.

One article about a hidden cave peaked his interest - supposedly haunted, and only accessible during low tide. It wasn't surprising that it would be haunted; the cave was dangerously close to the tide level, and people have been known to drown there. The awakening hunter in him urged him to investigate the cave, and put any lingering souls to rest.

Dean grunted in his sleep, and startled himself awake. Sam just looked at him for a moment before smirking. "We're going sightseeing."

* * *

And so, the Winchester boys ended up in the cave around the same time as the Hitachiin brothers and the girls. Unlike the teenagers, however, Sam and Dean_ had_ seen the figure, and had recognized the look on its face as it stared at the boy with the brown hair.

The spirit was angry at having drowned, irrational, and had made up its mind to make Haruhi suffer, probably for his nonchalance at the dangers of the cave or the legitimacy of its being haunted. Ghost logic; who knows?

The guys had only halfway reached the spirit where it stood before it'd disappeared, leaving them with no idea who they were chasing or how to protect the kid they were after.


	3. Chapter 3

Haruhi blinked in confusion at the giant vehicle. The giant Ootori Private Police Force vehicle. The one parked in the middle of the beach.

"...Are you sure it's okay to drive a truck like this on the sand?" Her tone was more laced with confusion than concern as she stared at Hani.

The older teen, giving her his biggest and most innocent smile, extended his hand to her from inside the back of the huge truck, offering to help her up in with him. She frowned, not understanding why she was being locked in the back of a truck with Hani, but took his hand anyway. He hoisted her up with the strength that did not seem to fit his frame.

They both turned to face the crowd of the Ootori family's private police officers, and Hani put his hands on his hips and spoke in a commanding voice. "Well, we're ready whenever you are, private police people!" He bowed a little. "Please lower the door!"

"Well, we're ready whenever you are, private police people! *bow* Please lower the door!"

The officers below, in perfect formation, saluted Hani. "Yes, sir!" they called. And the door dropped shut.

* * *

Haruhi was completely oblivious to what the host boys were doing to her.

Well, maybe not oblivious. But she certainly didn't know what they were actually doing.

Haruhi was not stupid; she was also not as naive as she appeared to be. She knew very well that the host club boys were up to something, and that something was centered around her.

What she didn't know is that they were holding a rather twisted game of "Who can find Haruhi's weakness", and thus were going to extreme measures to try to scare her out of her wits, all for the prize of pictures of her in her middle school gym uniform.

Haruhi only figured that whatever had gotten into the boys was normal for them, and that they were probably just being weirdos for the sake of weirdness. She wouldn't put it past them.

* * *

The door clicked shut, and Haruhi and Hani were thrust into complete and total darkness.

It was then that the spirit flickered into sight in the back corner of the truck. Should one of the children have better eyesight than expected, this would heighten the fear and make the kill so much _sweeter_.

The spirit inched forward, her sight not hindered by the darkness, her gaze fixated Haruhi. Her hand extended towards the brunette when suddenly, Hani took in a huge breath and screamed.

"It's dark and scary in here! I feel like I can't breathe!"

"Hani-senpai? What's wrong?!" interjected Haruhi, but Hani hadn't heard her or stopped yelling.

"Somebody let me out! I can't take it anymooorrrrrrreeeeee!"

The childlike teen let out a half sob, half whine, and the spirit quickly disappeared from sight when she heard the door click open. Observing the children a moment longer before leaving, she picked on something that made her rage swell.

There was no fear coming from the blonde. There never had been.


	4. Chapter 4

Dean was ready to pounce the moment the truck door closed. There were two kids in there, locked alone in the dark with an angry spirit. He couldn't stand it; it was all too dangerous and really really stupid. The EMF was going insane, for goodness' sake!

Sam had to grab his arm to keep him from running the moment one of the kids started screaming. "Sam, what are you doing?" he growled.

"We can't just run in there. Not yet. That's a police force trained in martial arts _right there_. What do you think they're gonna do when two crazy tourists run in with shotguns yelling about ghosts? We'll be useless, even if we don't get our asses handed to us before we get arrested."

It still took a lot of self control not to jump up and run to the truck, on both their parts. After a few seconds that stretched out for eternity, the door opened and the children hopped out, the blonde looking much more shaken than the brunette.

There was no sign of the spirit, but the EMF meter was still off the charts.

* * *

"This spirit doesn't even care whether or not the kid's alone," Dean mumbled. "It'll be on his tail, tryin' to kill him until we kill it."

"We don't even know who it is. How are we supposed to stop it? I don't think we're going to convince the kid to sit in a circle of salt until we narrow down drown victims!"

Sam and Dean cast a glance to the group of high school students the boy - Haruhi, as they'd overheard - was hanging around with. Approaching this without sending up stranger danger alarms was going to be difficult. Their common aliases had no meaning in Japan. But Haruhi was in danger, even if he didn't know it yet.

"We'll have to split up; I'll stay here and keep an eye on the kid, while you go search drown victims in the cave and narrow it down. I'm pretty sure that ghost is a chick," Dean offered.

"Dean, I know that you hate research, but maybe I should stick around here instead. You almost ran into a crowd of police earlier."

Dean was about to respond when his face met the sand.

"Who are you, and why are you following us?" The childlike voice held a disturbing amount of malice. The guys sat up and turned around, spitting out sand and wiping it out of their eyes to see the little blonde kid who'd been screaming in the truck. He took up their shirts in his hands and pulled them up enough to keep them from fighting back. Considering his age, and the fact that he was just human, he looked pretty terrifying.

Dean scoffed and Sam chuckled nervously. "We don't know what you're talking about, kid."

* * *

Hani's grip on their shirts tightened and he growled. "You've been trailing my friend since he got back from the cave. Tell me what you want, or I'll turn you inside out." It wasn't his normal kind of threat, but these strange men were following Haruhi, and they were carrying guns. He wasn't about to let anything happen to her.

And that spirit had been trailing her since the cave as well. Whatever was going on, Haruhi was in trouble and he knew it.

"Look, kid...we don't want any trouble. Honest." The taller man put up his hands in surrender and gave Hani what looked to be a sincere face.

He looked between the two until something clicked in his head. He remembered something his father had spoken of before. "You're hunters!" The two men shared a look that told him immediately that he was right. "But you're obviously American. What are you doing here?"

"Can you put us down so we can explain?" the shorter one asked. Hani let go and stood up, crossing his arms and glaring down at them.

"Okay. I...I'm Sam, and this is Dean," started the taller one. "We were on vacation and read an article about the cave your friends were at being haunted." When Hani nodded in acknowledgement, he continued. "We were in there doing an EMF reading when we saw that spirit eyeing...what was his name? Haruhi. It didn't look happy."

Hani knew that much. The Haninozukas weren't exactly non-believers in the supernatural. His father had several hunter friends and he knew spirit energy when he felt it. Whoever was in the truck with him and Haruhi, it was angry and ready to hurt whoever it wanted. "I could tell."

A realization crossed both of their faces. "You weren't screamin' 'cause you were afraid."

"You were screaming so they'd open the door and let Haruhi out in the open daylight."

Hani nodded. "So this spirit wants to hurt Haruhi. But why?"

"We don't know yet. Dean was going to go do some research and see if we could narrow down to who it may be, and figure out what it wants."

"Okay, then. I think I know what we can do."

"'_We_'?"

* * *

The blonde kid, Mitskuni Haninozuka (or Hani, as he'd introduced himself), sat down with the two of them and they cooked up a plan of action. To their surprise, had a fair idea of what he was talking about. They were almost convinced that he really was 17.

He said he would introduce his friends to the situation so they weren't caught unaware if the spirit decided to attack all of them, but it would take time because some of them wouldn't take him as seriously as the others. As it turned out, they were staying in the same lodge owned by one of the boys' family, so keeping an eye on them shouldn't be too difficult.

Hani would take care of things on the beach, so Sam and Dean could quicken their search for the spirit's identity.

As Sam and Dean made their way back to the lodge, they couldn't help but think about how no matter where they are, jobs will always find them.

* * *

Hani wasn't so sure if he should trust Sam and Dean or not. There were secrets in their eyes, lies, and something else he couldn't place. But he couldn't worry about that right now. Kyoya's private police force could handle the two hunters, but they were completely useless against the paranormal.

He figured he could tell Takashi first; the Morinozukas were just as knowledgeable as Haninozukas when it came to spirits and monsters. Kyoya would be less convinced, but he trusted Hani enough to listen if he expressed just how serious this could get. The problem was trying to explain it to Tamaki, the twins, and Haruhi. Tamaki would obviously believe it, but he'd throw a fit; this was the same guy who was convinced walking in on the Greek class' test was the work of black magic.

He was thrown out of his thoughts when he heard Tamaki shouting. He looked up and saw Haruhi being pushed off the cliff edge with Tamaki jumping in after her.

"Haru-chan!"


	5. Chapter 5

The last thing Haruhi saw before salt water rushed into her vision and forced her eyes shut was Tamaki falling in towards her.

At least, it was the last thing that made sense.

She turned her head to the side just in time to see what looked like a very pissed off woman in the water next to her grabbing her arm. She felt a jolt of unbearable pressure, like she was being electrocuted, and suddenly she was paralyzed. When her eyes finally shut to stop the burning, she was panicking. No matter how hard she tried to move, her body wouldn't respond.

To her almost relief, she felt what she could only hope to be Tamaki's arms wrapping around her and pulling her back to the surface.

* * *

Not even Kyoya could completely hide his relief when Tamaki emerged from the ocean carrying Haruhi. But another concern struck him; Haruhi could swim just fine. Even with Tamaki being the overprotective idiot he was, Haruhi should have been able to walk on her own.

Right after Haruhi had fallen in, Hani had confronted Kyoya and told him that an angry spirit was after Haruhi. He had not expected Hani to be a believer in such things, and wouldn't have taken him seriously if not for the situation at hand.

Could the spirit have done something to prevent her from swimming to the surface on her own?

* * *

Tamaki approached the group of hosts who had accumulated on the beach, holding Haruhi closely. Had he actually seen what he saw in the water?

"Where'd they go?" he asked, his voice strangely calm considering all that happened.

Kyoya put a shirt over Haruhi, likely for modesty purposes. "We took their ID cards and respectfully asked them to leave. The girls all went back to the hotel, and I've called a doctor." He glanced at Haruhi with an expression Tamaki couldn't really see behind the glare in his glasses. "He should be arriving here any minute now."

Tamaki wasn't quite as dumb as the others thought him to be. He heard the softened tone Kyoya was using and knew it was strange concern over something more than an almost drowning. "Thank you."

Haruhi, getting restless, pulled out of his arms, clenching the shirt around her. "I'm fine, you guys. I don't need a doctor." It didn't convince him much when she nearly lost her footing getting down.

He stared at her for a moment before speaking up. "What were you thinking?" She didn't answer, so he continued. "You know, you're not like Hani-senpai. You're not a martial arts master." She looked up at him, shocked, and he winced at the condescending tone he'd unconsciously used. He couldn't just stop, though. She needed to know how he felt about this. He put his hands on her shoulders. "Why did you confront them? What made you think you would stand a chance? You, against two boys?"

* * *

Haruhi finally spoke up against Tamaki to defend herself. "But it doesn't matter that they're boys and I'm a girl." She thought this would be common sense to them. "I was there; I had to do something! There wasn't any time to think a-"

"That's no excuse, you idiot!" Tamaki interrupted. "Don't forget, you're a girl!"

Haruhi had had enough of his sexist attitude. "Look, I'm sorry you had to come and save me, Senpai." And she was. Surely that woman in the water was just a hallucination, but that didn't explain why she had frozen the way she did. "But I don't understand why you're so mad at me right now." She glared up at him. "I don't think I did anything wrong!"

He looked angry, and a little bit of something else. "You don't think so?" His voice was quiet again. "Fine. Whatever you say." As he walked away, he called out back to her, "But I'm not speaking to you until you can admit that you were wrong!"

Haruhi turned back to glare, the woman in the water forgotten.


	6. Chapter 6

Sam and Dean sat across from each other, each on their laptops. By now, they assumed, Hani had alerted the rest of his friends to the danger. Right now, the group was probably upstairs in the dining room.

It was dark out now, and storm clouds were gathering. The faint sound of thunder could be heard off in the distance, but only to Sam and Dean's trained ears.

"How many are left on your list, Sammy?" The two of them had obtained a list of all the people who had drowned in the cave. Upon agreeing that the spirit was most likely a woman, they'd split the list of females in half and were narrowing it down by age and photo. There were 23 reports of girls and women drowning.

Sam had cut his list by counting out anyone under the age of 13. "Six. How many on yours?"

"Two. So many of these chicks have crazy hair... Freakin' Japan."

* * *

They put up the pictures, enlarged, on the wall to observe.

"Naw, that girl's hair is way too short."

"This one's nose is huge."

Eventually, after much bickering and yanking pictures off the wall, they found what they hoped to be a solid physical match to the ghost they'd seen in the cave. Sam read over her story.

"Her name was Ayumu. Apparently she'd been exploring the cave with some friends, who left after she tried to urge them in further. She insisted there was nothing to be afraid of, according to her friends' accounts. They all thought she'd followed, but then the tide came in and she'd never come out. The authorities found her body the next day at low tide."

"So, Ayumu is probably targeting Haruhi because he wasn't afraid of the cave, just like she was, but he escaped and lived while she couldn't."

"Probably. We should go tell Hani."

* * *

Sam and Dean headed out toward the dining room to find Hani, but happened across his tall friend who'd he'd said to call 'Mori'. He was walking quickly and didn't stop when the guys called out to him, so Sam ran on to catch up. "Hey, uh, Mori, was it?"

"Yeah." The teen didn't stop walking, and Sam had to jog to keep up.

"We were looking for Hani. Did he tell you what's happening with Haruhi?"

"Yeah." He didn't seem very talkative. "I'm going to get her right now."

"Wait...she?" When Mori didn't answer, he continued on. "Whatever. Is she alone right now?!"

"Yeah. Changing."

"The spirit is after her because he...she...escaped from the cave. It's angry and intends to kill her! And it can. It has the power to."

Mori stopped for a moment, then broke out into a fast run. Sam followed closely behind, with Dean not far off.

* * *

"Ugh, dad...why'd you have to repack my bags? What if the girls saw me in this?" Haruhi held up the frilly pink dress in front of her and sighed. It was pretty, yeah, but she was with a group of boys for goodness' sake, and the host club at that! She could only imagine the twins would have a field day if they'd thought to bring a camera with them. She was never going to live this down.

She turned the dress around and walked to a mirror. Before she could hold it in front of her, though, she saw someone in the reflection.

* * *

Mori, Sam, and Dean all heard the startled cry from down the hall.

* * *

"How did you get in here?"

The figure didn't say anything. Instead, she tilted her head. Haruhi's eyes widened. "You...I saw you in the water! You paralyzed me!" She pressed herself back against the wall, dropping the dress next to her. "Who...what are you?"

The woman was dripping wet, and pale. Her eyes were sunken in. Haruhi's logical mind screamed that it couldn't be possible, but she couldn't help but imagine that this was a ghost.

She heard a thump and a voice from the other side of the door that she didn't recognize calling her name. "Haruhi!"

* * *

Dean was throwing himself against the door, trying to force it open, but it wouldn't budge. "Ayumu's keeping it shut! Either that or it's a really sturdy door..." He chuckled in spite of the situation.

"Both. Oak. Move." Mori grabbed his arm and pushed Dean aside.

* * *

Haruhi cried out more in surprise than fear when the woman darted forward. She reached forward, and Haruhi tried to start running. She wasn't quick enough, though, and the woman grabbed her arm again. The same painful pressure spread throughout her body and she fell to the ground. She heard the tub's faucets turn on and felt the woman grab her arms, pulling her across the carpet.

Suddenly, the door burst open.

* * *

Dean stumbled away and Mori kicked the door, hard, sending it flying open. The trio ran in to see Ayumu holding onto Haruhi's arms and pulling her into the bathroom. Sam didn't pause; he jumped at Ayumu and swung the iron knife straight through her body.


	7. Chapter 7

"Haruhi!" Mori rushed over to her as she struggled to pull herself off the ground. He grabbed her arm gently, helping her to her feet.

"Mori-senpai...? W-what was that?" She leaned into him a bit, still trying to regain control of her body. When she realized they were not alone in the room, she eyed the two men. "And...who are they?"

The taller one, holding the knife, seemed to be rushing his words. "I'm Sam." He pointed to the man who'd stumbled through the doorway. "And that's my brother, Dean. We're monster hunters."

"...What?" Haruhi had never heard a more ridiculous introduction in her life. She looked up at Mori, but something she saw in his eyes told her that she was _not _being pranked. They were serious. She decided to go along with it. "So...that thing was a monster?"

"Well, sort of." Dean said. "It was a ghost."

* * *

Much to Haruhi's displeasure, the three refused to let her alone in the bathroom or bedroom to change clothes. So Haruhi was forced instead to have the guys turn around and cover their eyes. She trusted Mori enough to know that nothing would happen to her.

As she changed into her dress, Sam and Dean explained the situation to her. The ghost was mad at her for surviving being in that cave the twins took her to? It didn't make much sense to her, really. Why is that her fault? But Sam and Dean assured her that it wasn't, and that spirits were angry and irrational and didn't make any sense a lot of the time. So she shrugged and listened to their plan to protect her.

Haruhi was not to be left alone. Mori and Hani would explain to the rest of the host club what was going on, and they would be there to protect her should anything happen. Meanwhile, Sam and Dean would take care of the spirit. They wouldn't tell her what they were going to do, and by the look in their eyes, she was sure she didn't want to know.

So Mori escorted Haruhi to the dining room, and Sam and Dean went off to who-knows-where.

* * *

The hosts' reactions to her dress were not as extreme as she'd expected from them.

They all sat around the dining table in an awkward silence. Haruhi's mind was buzzing with the information about the spirit. There was also the fact that she was still angry at Tamaki for yelling at her, so she sat in silence.

She didn't know if it was Ayumu's lingering influence making everyone so uncomfortable and dulled down, or if it was the growing storm outside, or if everyone was just nervous about how she would react towards Tamaki.

"Well...this is uncomfortable," Hikaru mumbled to no one in particular.

"Yeah...kind of awkward," his brother answered.

So it was because of her and Tamaki. Okay.

The clock ticked away and Hani, sensing how on edge everyone was, tried to lighten the mood. "L-let's dig in, Haru-chan! These are the crabs we caught! I bet they're delicious!"

Haruhi knew it was the anticipation of the storm and the stress over the fact that Ayumu was trying to kill her making her temper flare, but it didn't change anything. She still snapped open her crab leg with an obnoxious crack, making pointed sounds that she just didn't care as she ate. "These crabs taste in_crab_able," she said, tossing leg after leg next to her, right in Tamaki's face. "Get it?"

Tamaki, looking disturbed, turned to her. "Don't you think you've had enough? Give it a rest!"

"Excuse me? I thought that you weren't speaking to me." She cracked open another crab leg, and Tamaki visibly flinched as though it were his own leg she's snapped.

* * *

Hani had told Tamaki and the twins about the spirit after Haruhi while Mori was off fetching her. By now, everyone knew that the strained atmosphere was most likely caused by her. But that didn't stop them all from being mad at each other; especially Haruhi.

Hani sat, watching the exchange between the two of them with a look that he was sure displayed his nervousness perfectly.

"'You...tryin' to be cute?" Tamaki dared. When Haruhi glared at him, he flinched again and stood up quickly. "Okay, fine. I get it. It seems you refuse to admit that you were wrong." He shrugged and started walking towards the door, obviously upset. "See if I care, then. I'm going to bed. Kyoya, would you show me to my room, please?"

* * *

"You know, Tamaki, it does no good to be angry at her. Nearly drowning wasn't her fault."

When Hani had told Tamaki and the twins about the spirit, Tamaki had told them all that when he jumped in to save Haruhi, he'd seen what he thought was a hallucination from fear - a women, holding Haruhi's arm, looking angry.

Kyoya glanced at Tamaki as he led him down the hall. Tamaki looked sullen. "I know," he muttered, "but she could have been so much worse off. Those guys could have done anything to her. What if they'd realized she was a girl?"

He sighed, understanding perfectly what Tamaki was getting at. "Yelling at her now for it will do no good. Your main concern should be this...ghost...trying to hurt her, and protecting her from it."

Tamaki looked pretty defeated, and went into his room without another word.

* * *

Back in the dining room, Haruhi had stopped bothering with her dinner. She stared down at her plate, contemplating everything that had happened. "Maybe he's right... Maybe I do need to learn a way to protect myself."

"So that's it. He got to you, huh?" the twins said in unison. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt you to learn martial arts or something," Hikaru started.

"But it's not like we're going to force you to learn it," finished Kaoru.

"Besides, that's not the real issue, here."

Hikaru gazed at her for a moment. "To be honest, we were all a little worried about how recklessly you acted."

Something clicked just then, but Haruhi asked anyway. "What do you mean? I didn't cause you guys any trouble or anything."

It looked like the twins gave up on trying to explain, and she was about to ask again when Hani cut in. "That's not true, Haru-chan. I think you should apologize, 'kay?" He gave her an adorable, awkward smile. "You made us all worry, especially Tama-chan. I think you need to him the most."

At least now it was out in the open. "So you were worried about me? But why?" Did they all know about the spirit chasing her, then? Was that why?

"You're hopeless..." came the twins' answer.

"...You think?" She looked down at her lap. "Guys, I'm really sorry."

She suddenly became aware of everyone hugging her tightly, but of nothing else, because suddenly her dinner was back in her throat.

The guys ushered her into some bedroom, and she made her way into the bathroom without a second thought.

* * *

Kyoya was on his way back to the dining hall when he saw the remainder of hosts pushing Haruhi into his room. "What's going on?"

"Haruhi ate too much."

He held back a groan. Kyoya wasn't the type to complain when something annoyed him, and this was for the better, anyway. Haruhi would be fine in his care until Hani's hunters took care of that ghost, and this would give him a unique opportunity with her.

"I'll sit in and wait for her, and keep her company while your friends do what they need to do to save her," he said. The group nodded and headed off in the direction of their rooms, and Kyoya slipped into his and shut the door.


	8. Chapter 8

Haruhi stepped hesitantly out of the bathroom. Kyoya looked up, a towel on his head, his shirt long abandoned. "Are you okay?" he asked.

She clearly didn't recognize him without his glasses on, and bowed a bit. "I-I apologize, sir... I didn't mean to intrude."

He nearly rolled his eyes, rubbing the towel a little bit on his hair. "Don't be silly. It's just me."

"Kyoya-senpai?" He nodded at her and pulled the towel down to his shoulders. "Senpai...I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to make everybody worry about me today."

So she finally figured out why Tamaki was mad at her. He thought about accepting her apology, because he actually had been worried about her, but that wouldn't do for his plan. "Thanks," he began as he stood up from his chair, "But I wasn't especially worried." Haruhi only stood there, listening. "Although, I did have a hard time separate Kaoru and Hikaru from those two punks." The irritation he felt just thinking about those guys showed a bit in his voice, and he hoped she couldn't hear it. Chuckling a bit, he added, "They almost beat them half to death."

Poor Haruhi looked sheepish, but not all that surprised. He went on, making his way over to her...and the light switch. "And, because of you, I had to send each of the girls a bouquet of flowers to apologize. They'd been looking forward to this trip, and we don't want to disappoint them."

"I'll pay you back for the flowers, Senpai." She obviously thought he'd bought more affordable bouquets.

"Each bouquet cost me (¥)50,000. That's a grand total of 600,000 yen, Haruhi." He let his voice flow teasingly, maybe to alert her to what he was about to do, as he hit the light switch.

The shake in her voice betrayed her. "Uh...why'd you turn the lights off?" She obviously knew what was coming.

"If you want to..." He smirked and leaned down close to her. "...You can pay me back with your body."

* * *

To say Haruhi was surprised when Kyoya grabbed her wrist and pulled her across the room to the bed would be a huge understatement.

Kyoya practically threw her onto the bed, knocking one of his sheets off in the process, and hoisted himself on top of her.

His voice came in a silky, cocky tone. "Surely you aren't so naive that you actually believe a person's sex doesn't matter." She lay beneath him, her arms outstretched by her head. "You've left yourself completely defenseless against me."

Hearing these words, she looked up to observe his face. His face showed the flirtatious confidence of someone who would actually do something to her, but his eyes held no sexual desire.

'_So that's it._'

* * *

Kyoya propped himself up on all fours above Haruhi's body.

A unique opportunity indeed. Not only would the spirit think that something foul was about to happen to the girl, keeping her at bay, but doing this would teach Haruhi an important lesson that even an idiot like Tamaki knew.

"You won't do it, Kyoya-senpai."

Well,_ that_ certainly wasn't expected.

"I know, because it wouldn't do you any good. You wouldn't gain anything from it." Her response was matter-of-fact, but she spoke in soft tones, as though she were trying to convince him of such things in case they weren't true.

But of course, they kind of were. "You're right." And he sat up. No matter that his distraction plan had been foiled - the spirit would still be less likely to attack with someone in the room to protect her. "You're a fascinating young woman, Haruhi."

Behind him, Haruhi sat up. "But, I've learned something from this." Did she really? "I guess I never realized what a nice guy you are, Senpai." So she knew he was protecting her from the spirit? He slipped on his glasses and glanced at her questioningly. "I know what you're doing. You're just trying to prove what Tamaki-senpai said earlier." Oh, that. That too, he supposed. He stood from the bed, feeling uncomfortable being on it with her. "I know that you're trying to prove his point; that you're just posing as the bad guy."

Kyoya was contemplating his response when there was a knock at the door.

"Kyoya?" Tamaki opened the door without waiting to be invited in. "Do you have any lotion? This sunburn is worse than I-" Tamaki paused when he looked up.

Kyoya knew how this probably looked. He knew how Tamaki would react. He also knew that leaving the room now with him in here would force Tamaki to stay, to prevent Haruhi from being left alone.

Tamaki's face was suddenly filled with rage. "You bastard!"

But before he could continue, Kyoya had given him a face full of lotion bottle. "Here. Use as much as you want, you big goof."

And before he could argue, Kyoya stepped out into the hall and shut the door.


End file.
